God Speaks

When I open the bible, I don’t read it like any other book. The bible is “living and active” and God uses it to speak to me each day – directly.

There is a passage that God has used to remind me of His miracles and of miracles that are in my future: 2 Samuel 22, particularly verse 34, and Psalm 18, particularly verse 33. “He makes my feet like the feet of deer and sets me on my high places.”

I had a terrible car accident that took a joint out of my foot. It was the direct result of being delusional while in a manic-depressive episode between 8 and 9 years ago (written a couple of years ago). The passage refers to the feet of deer, and always reminds me of my feet, so it speaks to me of God’s promise to restore my feet. Since deer feet have lots of bone, “making my feet like the feet of deer” means adding bone to my feet.

Right after I had my accident, I met a woman who had also had a freak accident involving her foot. She had gone to a faith healer – the same one I went to – and had been completely restored. Her leg and foot were all shriveled and the bones were fusing together, but she woke up one morning and it was all restored. She got up to get her cane but realized she didn’t need it. I felt that this was a sign for me to believe.

The accident came as a result of being manic-depressive – the source of the problem. In general, when I read this passage, it reminds me that God wants to restore my feet but he also wants to restore my mind.

How do I know that this is what the passage means? The Holy Spirit has spoken that to me.

God causes me to turn to these passages all the time, and at the most synchronous moments – amazing! He even slips this passage in when I least expect it. I was in church the other day and the scripture reading for the day was from Habakkuk and the theme was on being thankful. It starts out by saying that though no “fruit be on the vine” and there be “no herd in the stalls” “yet I will rejoice in the Lord” and it goes on to say: ”The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feel like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

There it was again! God is always reminding me of this passage, which is His promise. Reading the bible is not just reading stories, or dryly reading commands or reading portions of “Holy Scripture” each day to fulfill some obligation. It is God speaking to me.

I open the book, and not always the first thing I open to, but after I flip through a time or two, I come to something that I know is Him speaking to me. The 2nd Samuel passage, and the Psalm 18 passage are not bookmarked, yet I flip to them almost right away, and wonder at that. I always find other scriptures that God wants me to read as well,

God wants our bible reading to be part of a relationship, to be exciting. He can guide us through it in a living and vital way.

Don’t just read the bible like a book, or let other people tell you how you should read it. Let the Holy Spirit make reading the bible as exciting and as comforting as He has made it for me.